Blood and Lightning
by Dalsethel
Summary: A side story to The Givers Tale, set 150 years ahead. Follow Tay down a rabbit hole of artificially generated magic, warlocks, and a whole lot of blood.


/Lorem ipsum/=tv

"Lorem ipsum"= spirit

I walked down the frostbitten street outside my shop. It was the dead of winter, and global warming had died down about seventy years ago, leaving the world to get back on it's feet. I unlocked the door and set the shop up for the day. I sold a variety of little knick-knacks here. Protective charms. Robes and fabric for LARPers and cosplayers. I had a wall full of religious and magical symbols. Then, there was the back room. That was for customers with burgeoning magical talent, with basic foci and manuals i'd written on the basics of magic. The kind of shop a lot of people had, but no one did right. I also did some consulting work with those same people, or anyone who needed it. That I did for free. I turned on the tv I kept in the shop. A while back i'd figured out how to modify electronics to run off of magical power, thereby eliminating their tendency to bug out around practitioners.

/five bodies found today, all bearing the distinctive wounds of victims of the Hellblood gang. Police are still no closer to taking this gang down. The commissioner had this to say. "Look, I know you all want these people gone, but they have weapons unlike anything we've seen before. They can shoot lightning-"/ I turned off the TV. the Hellbloods werent just a gang. They were a cult, and one of the scariest ones i'd seen. They had figure out how to use life energy from blood to give ordinary people magic, making them incredibly dangerous. And the council wouldn't do anything about them. They'd grown weaker and softer since Dresden vanished and Ebenezar passed. There was talk around the supernatural community of removing them entirely. Monsters of all kinds had been brazenly killing people, feeding on them. And me? I'd done nothing. I stood by, taking care of my little shop, watching the world go to hell.

"You're weak. Just like them… too afraid to do anything. I don't know what I ever saw in you." I looked over at my tagalong. It was Vince. He'd passed away at around ninety, and his imprint had decided to haunt me. "I'm not weak. I'm not scared. I'm just being cautious." "why? You could take on anything this city can throw at you. You still have the mask. No one would know it was you…" He moved closer "except for me…" "The mask's a relic. A symbol from a bygone age. No one believes in it anymore." "then make a new symbol… it's easy… you have all the materials here. Go out. Fight them. Do whats right. Like you used to… do it for me."

He was right. I couldn't keep sitting on my ass here. I pulled out my old sketchbook. "I need a color." "how about… blue?"

Time: midnight.

Location: New Johnstown, on top of the radio building

Breathe in… breathe out… step forward… start running… jump... touchdown… keep running. I began patrol. The new outfit was tight, but not constricting. Gloves with schema for protective wards woven into them clung to my hands. A hood with a charm to conceal my face and give me the same effects of the old mask covered my head. A midnight blue duster fit snugly on me, leaving room for my body to move. It had plenty of wards on it. My boots let me run faster than any human alive, and a pair of rapiers hung off my back, enchanted to act as foci for any of my spells, as well as sharpness and durability. I looked around. Blood ritual going on in a warehouse across the street. I blinked over to the roof- yes, I figured out how to do that spell- and listened. Chanting came from inside, along with muffled yells. That was all I needed. I plunged the swords down, releasing a shockwave into the roof, collapsing it. Suddenly, there were a lot of dead Hellbloods, and one terrified mortal. I cut him loose, and he ran, not stopping to thank me. I thought for a second. Technically, i just broke the first law. Somehow, I didn't care. These people were barely human. I sheathed my swords and blinked up a nearby building. I had hunting to do.

I found more prey about five blocks away. Or rather, they found me, and tried to hit me with a lightning bolt. I looked in the direction it had come from. Underneath the hood, my jaw dropped. Across the street was one of the newer recruits to the wardens. One that had vanished a while back after a supposed outburst. And she had just tried to kill me. Oh. Fuck. I pointed my finger and returned fire with my signature lightning orbs. That way, she would know who I was, and what she'd just landed herself in. It flew by her head, causing her hair to form a halo. I yelled across to her "Warning shot Tara! I won't miss next time." She evidently didn't care, and fired another lightning bolt my way. I blocked it, and sent a dozen of my spells her way. When i looked up, she was down on the ground, twitching. I blinked over and checked her pulse. Still alive. I smiled. I knew exactly what to do with her. With any luck, it'd get the councils rear in gear.

 **A/N annnd done. Thank you all for reading, and expect a significantly different upload this week. I'm not giving up on either of these stories, but my creative juices have been flowing. DMing a campaign for a couple friends, and it gave me a D &D story idea. See you all there!**


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